The invention relates to a mounting mechanism for driving gears, particularly planetary-type gears having torque support. The present invention is particularly useful for mounting and rotatively driving paddle wheels or similar bulk goods moving devices.
As is known, paddle wheels are driven and rotated by the driven shafts of the paddle wheel. Motors with built-on planetary gears drive the centrally located shafts. In using paddle wheels which move the bulk goods so that they discharge the goods to their interior, it is not possible to have the planetary gears arranged in the interior of the paddle wheel. It is customary, therefore, to add the driving gear laterally, i.e., coaxially to the paddle wheel rotating axis. This lateral arrangement of the gear has, however, the disadvantage that the protruding driving gear negatively influences the so-called free-cutting angle of the paddle wheel so that the performance of the paddle wheel apparatus is negatively influenced by the necessity of the free-cutting angle.
The distance between the paddle wheel and the driving gear, and therefore the degree to which the driving gear protrudes beyond the paddle wheel, are enlarged by coupling elements which must be provided between the gear and paddle wheel in order to transmit the torque. It is conventional to provide flange couplings for connecting the driving gear and the paddle wheel, to use divided clamping rings, or to mount the paddle wheel with the aid of shrinking plates. All of these solutions, however, share the disadvantage that they consume considerable space, thereby further increasing the protrusion of the driving gear laterally from the paddle wheel and the free-cutting angle. Beyond that, the flange couplings and shinking plates have the disadvantage of large bending moments for the connecting structure and the clamping rings are hard to build-in because many fastening screws must be provided between the driving gear and the clamping ring. Furthermore, the screws are exposed to high stress by very small movement and motions between the driving gear and the paddle wheel and bearing and exhibit a tendency to break.
Starting from these problems and disadvantages, the object of the present invention is to provide a mounting mechanism of the initially described type such that the free-cutting angle between the driving gear and the paddle wheel is eliminated, i.e., the driving gear is directly connected to the paddle wheel and, yet, the paddle wheel discharges towards its interior.